FBI Silvermaster File
The FBI’s Silvermaster fileFBI Silvermaster file 65-56402 is a 162-volume compendium of some 26,000 pages of documents relating to the Bureau’s investigation of Communist penetration of the Federal government during the Cold War. Beginning in 1945 with the allegations of defecting Soviet courier Elizabeth Bentley (Venona cover names “Myrna”1353 KGB New York to Moscow, 23 Sept. 1944, p. 2; Umnitsa, “Clever Girl”687 KGB New York to Moscow, 13 May 1944, p.1), the file is also known as the Bentley file or Gregory file (“Gregory” being the FBI’s code name for Bentley). The file takes the name “Silvermaster” from Nathan Gregory Silvermaster (Venona cover names Pel1017 KGB New York to Moscow, 29-30 June 1943, p. 2, Pal, “Paul”888 KGB New York to Moscow, 9th June 1943, p. 2; “Robert”1787 KGB New York to Moscow, 19 December 1944, p.1) of the War Production Board, whom Bentley named as head of an underground Communist network known as the Silvermaster Group.FBI Report, [http://ultra-secret.info/PDFs/NKVD.pdf Underground Soviet Espionage Organization (NKVD) in Agencies of the United States Government], October 21, 1946 (FBI Silvermaster file, Volume 82), p. 12 Among the people named in the file in connection with this group are President Franklin Roosevelt’s Administrative Assistant Lauchlin CurrieFBI Report, [http://ultra-secret.info/PDFs/NKVD.pdf Underground Soviet Espionage Organization (NKVD) in Agencies of the United States Government], October 21, 1946 (FBI Silvermaster file, Volume 82), 52 (Currie's Venona cover name was "Page")Robert J. Hanyok, [http://www.nsa.gov/about/_files/cryptologic_heritage/publications/wwii/eavesdropping.pdf Eavesdropping on Hell: Historical Guide to Western Communications Intelligence and the Holocaust, 1939-1945] (Washington, DC: Center for Cryptologic History, National Security Agency, 2005, 2nd Ed.), p. 119 and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Harry Dexter WhiteFBI Report, op. cit., p. 78 (PDF page 86) (Venona cover names “Lawyer”1251 KGB New York to Moscow, 2 September 1944, p. 2; “Jurist”; “Richard”83 KGB New York to Moscow, 18 January 1945, p.1). Also named in the file are Victor PerloFBI Report, p. 98 (Venona cover name “Raider”687 KGB New York to Moscow, 13 May 1944, p. 1), chief of the Aviation Section of the War Production Board, and contacts of his Perlo group, including Alger HissFBI Report, p. 108 (PDF 119) (Venona cover name “Ales”1822 KGB New York to Moscow, 30 March 1945, p. 1"This could only be Alger Hiss." (Appendix A, Part 6, "The Experience of the Bomb," Report of the Commission on Protecting and Reducing Government Secrecy (Moynihan Commission), Senate Document 105-2, Pursuant to Public Law 236, 103rd Congress, Washington: Government Printing Office, 1997)"Analysts at the National Security Agency have gone on record asserting that Ales could only have been Alger Hiss." (PBS Nova Online: "Secrets, Lies, and Atomic Spies")), secretary general of the United Nations Charter Conference. (Like several others identified by Bentley, Hiss had been identified independently by another defecting Soviet courier, Whittaker Chambers, to Assistant Secretary of State Adolf Berle in 1939.Berle’s notes on his meeting with Whittaker Chambers, September 2, 1939) Among dozens of others named by Bentley in this file in connection with this network is Duncan LeeFBI Report, p. 163 (Venona cover name “Koch”800 KGB New York to Moscow, June 8, 1943, p. 1), confidential assistant to William Donovan, founder and director of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), wartime predecessor of the CIA. Prosecutions Original plans for Bentley to serve as a double agent and gather sufficient evidence to prosecute the Soviet agents identified in the Silvermaster files were ruined when her identity was inadvertently leaked and the USSR quickly shut down its operations in order to avoid embarrassing and damaging prosecutions. The Silvermaster file in combination with other secret proofs such as the Venona intercepts gave US intelligence the identity of many Soviet agents without the practical means to secure convictions. Also, the statute of limitations for an espionage prosecution was quite short. This was a significant part of the backstory of McCarthyism. Bentley's double agent career would have enabled the US to expose the spies without compromising Venona and losing that as an ongoing intelligence source. See also * Active measures * History of Soviet and Russian espionage in the United States * List of Soviet agents in the United States Notes References * FBI Report, Underground Soviet Espionage Organization (NKVD) in Agencies of the United States Government], October 21, 1946 (FBI Silvermaster file, Volume 82), Further reading * “Testimony of Elizabeth T. Bentley,” Hearings Regarding Communist Espionage in the United States Government, Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Eightieth Congress, Second Session, Public Law 601 (Section 121, Subsection Q 2), Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1948. External links * The Cold War International History Project (CWIHP) has the full text of former KGB agent Alexander Vassiliev's Notebooks, containing new evidence on Soviet espionage in the United States during the Cold War Category:Espionage scandals and incidents Category:Venona project Category:Spy rings Category:Communist Party USA Category:1945 establishments Category:Federal Bureau of Investigation